Jamaican Sprinter Dominates Highly Anticipated Women's 100 Meters As Richardson Fades To Ninth; Frerichs and Mu Lower American Records; Crouser and Ingebrigtsen Produce Diamond League Records

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor/John Nepolitan photos

Elaine Thompson-Herah affirmed her status as the fastest woman on the planet Saturday at Hayward Field, the two-time Olympic 100-meter gold medalist blowing away a star-studded field in a wind-legal 10.54 seconds – second-fastest in history and within arm's reach of the world record. 

The most alluring race of the 46th Prefontaine Classic featured the three Jamaican medalists taking on the fiery young American, Sha'Carri Richardson, who returned to racing after serving a 30-day ban for a drug test that detected cannabis after the U.S. Olympic Trials. 

Richardson was adamant after the race that her day is coming, but that it wasn't Saturday, as she appeared sluggish out of the blocks and then was a non-factor and finished last in a nine-woman field. She did not return to the track for the 200 meters, despite being entered. 

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Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (10.73) and Shericka Jackson (10.76) duplicated their finishing order in Tokyo and were willing to ignore the hype around the flashy and volatile American with the brightly colored wig and long fingernails. Teahna Daniels, who finished seventh in the Olympic final, was the top American athlete Saturday, placing fourth in a personal-best 10.83.

Thompson-Herah is now in the conversation to break the legendary and seemingly untouchable record of 10.49 held by Florence Griffith-Joyner since the 1988 U.S. Trials in Indianapolis. 

"Yes, I ran 10.61 (at the Olympics) and now 10.54 so it means I'm closer, but there's still some work to do. It's a target of course," Thompson-Herah said. 

Richardson returned to the interview area after some cooling off time and offered an upbeat view of her place in the sport and her outlook on the future. 

"At the end of the day, we're still here, you're going to watch, you're still waiting," she said. "I feel delicious."

A cavalcade of Olympic stars from the recent Tokyo Games gave the Hayward Field crowd of 8,937 an impressive show that included two American records. 

History was made in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase as Norah Jeruto of Kenya ran the No. 3 time in history, 8:53.65. Jeruto hadn't run since May and came to the Pre Classic with fresh legs.

Behind her, Courtney Frerichs, the Olympic silver medalist, became the first American to go  under nine minutes, with 8:57.77, making her the fourth-fastest female competitor in history. 

Athing Mu added one more highlight to her incredible 2021 season by running an encore performance in the 800 meters that produced another American record in 1:55.04, helping her ascend to the No. 8 competitor in history. The race concludes her season and the 19-year-old Mu said she is looking forward to taking a vacation.

Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen capped the meet with a Diamond League record and world-leading time of 3:47.24 to win the Bowerman Mile against a loaded field that affirms his status globally after winning the Olympic gold in the 1,500 meters. 

Australia's Stewart McSweyn pushed ahead with Ingebrigtsen but was unable to keep pace on the final lap and finished second in 3:48.40.

Noah Lyles stormed to his best result of 2021, taking the 200 meters in 19.52 – near his lifetime best (19.50) from the Lausanne Diamond League event in 2019. Lyles now boasts two of the top 10 fastest wind-legal performances in the 200. 

Canadian Marco Arop took down the Olympic gold and silver medalists in the 800 meters, running away from the pack off the final curve and winning in 1:44.51. 

Clayton Murphy ran from the front but couldn't hold it over the final 200 and finished fifth in 1:45.97. 

Ugandan star Joshua Cheptegei thumped his chest as he crossed the finish line with a victory in the men's 2-mile. The Olympic 5,000-meter champion edged out the 10,000 gold medalist, Selemon Barega of Ethiopia, 8:09.55 to 8:09.82. American Paul Chelimo dug for third place in 8:09.83. Grant Fisher was sixth in 8:11.09 but elevated to the No. 3 outdoor performer in U.S. history and Joe Klecker was right behind him in 8:11.55 (No. 5 all-time U.S.).

Kenyan national treasure Faith Kipyegon, the two-time Olympic champion in the women's 1,500 meters, dominated the event and ran a meet record 3:53.23. Linden Hall of Australia was second in 3:59.73 and American Josette Norris took third in 4:00.07.

Dalilah Muhammad won the women's 400-meter hurdles in 52.77 for another Pre Classic record. Shamier Little was second in 53.79 and Gianna Woodruff of Panama lowered her own South American record to take third in 54.20. 

Canada's Andre DeGrasse won an entertaining and wind-aided 100 meters in 9.74 seconds with Americans Fred Kerley (9.78w), Ronnie Baker (9.82w), Trayvon Bromell (9.86w), Michael Norman (9.90w) and Justin Gatlin (9.93w) stacked up behind him. The win reading was +2.9. 

Swiss sprinter Mujinga Kambundji ran 22.06w (+2.4w) to win the women's 200, as Gabby Thomas, the U.S. bronze-medal winner in Tokyo, was second in 22.11. Allyson Felix, perhaps in her last Pre Classic, was eighth in 22.60. Kambundji also finished seventh in the 100 in 10.96.

Olympic champions Ryan Crouser, Katie Nageotte and Pedro Pichardo all won their specialities in the field and were among the 10 gold medalists overall from Tokyo who won on Friday and Saturday.

Crouser, sporting a new mullet haircut, pumped out his – and the world's – third-best all-time mark in the shot put with 75-11.50 (23.15m) to smash the Diamond League record. 

Nageotte won the pole vault with a clearance at 15-9.75 (4.82m), overcoming swirling winds to prevail over Olympic silver medalist Holly Bradshaw 15-5.75 (4.72m) of Great Britain. 

And Pichardo, of Portugal, won the triple jump. He only jumped twice, but flew to 57-10.25 (17.63m) on his final opportunity to cinch the win over Hugues Fabrice Zango 56-2 (17.12m) of Burkina Faso and American Donald Scott 55-10.50 (17.03m).  

Ukraine's Iryna Gerashchenko edged out American Vashti Cunningham in the high jump on tiebreaker after both women made 6-6 (1.98m). Gerashchenko cleared 6-4.25 (1.94m) on her sixth sudden-death attempt and 18th overall in the competition to finally outlast Cunningham, who attempted 16 total jumps.